Culinary Adventures with Camilla

October 20, 2014 – this piece went live on the  Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution website.  Read it  there ...or here. The Dining Room Table as a Nexus for Change Story by Camilla M. Mann One of my 'Eat a Rainbow' students making pumpkin-potato gnocchi “Raise kids with fearless palates.” That is scribbled into a journal from before I was a mom. Idealistic? Sure. Achievable? Definitely. At first, I just focused on my family. Then I expanded my goal to our small circle of friends. I put zucchini into chocolate cakes at birthday parties. I created a menu dedicated to the enigmatic and oft-hated eggplant. I pushed my friends’ palates and they still returned to my dining room table for more. A good friend once asserted that he did not eat – and I quote – purple dirt circles. He meant beets. I accepted the challenge and cooked an entire dinner around those purple dirt circles, inviting him, his family, and a few other friends to my table. We ate roast...

Friday evening. End of a busy week during the craziest time of the school year. How do you pull together an event for Food Revolution Day? You organize a potluck picnic.  Thankfully several families I know with children were game. My request: pick a color and bring an ingredient for rainbow wraps. Here's some of what we ended up with... Red: cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, salsa, strawberries, rhubarb Orange: cherry tomatoes, roasted pepper, mashed sweet potatoes, salad with mango and nasturtium Yellow: yellow summer squash, Yukon gold potato salad Green: spinach, basil, marinated artichokes, green olives, pesto, kale-wakame salad, kale salad Blue: pickled blueberries Purple: purple cabbage, kalamata olives, grapes What fun! Though I did feel a bit like I was preaching to the choir. All of these kiddos already eat real food. One funny story: one dad at the potluck told a friend's son that there would be no des...

I applied to be a Food Revolution Day Ambassador, not because I am a food Nazi (though there are people that probably feel that way about me) but because I love food. I love it. I love the way to looks, smells, feels, and - most importantly - tastes. Real food tastes amazing. So, to me, the necessary food revolution needs to be focused on eating real and the next generation. Here's the deal on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day: click here . Teaching children to cook is one of his biggest aims and it is what Food Revolution Day is all about. Jamie talks about the demise of home-cooking. I love that he is focused on teaching children to cook. That has been a focus of mine for a couple of years now. And my boys do everything from make homemade ketchup ,bake panettone , pickle green tomatoes , form Pljeskavica , and roll fresh pasta . I joined this movement to encourage and inspire people to eat real food, to cook at home, and to make it a fam...

Just got this email:  " Thank you so much for applying to be a Food Revolution Ambassador.  We would love for you to be an Ambassador in Monterey, CA.We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers in cities and regions around the world to support the Food Revolution all year round. You will play a leadership role in connecting individuals, schools, businesses and organizations at a local level to ensure their collective voice is heard. "  Awesome. Now what?  Here's the scoop: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day . Okay, wheels are churning with a plan. I only have 10 days to pull something together. Who's in? And who, not locally, would want to do something with me virtually?!? I'm open!

Inspired by Jaime Oliver's Crunchy Carrot Pitas , a Food Revolution Day recipe, we decided to do a little twist; we made pizza! I had some carrots from Grimmway Farms   and some bell peppers from   Baloian Farms , both are sponsors for this year's #BrunchWeek, so this was a quick, easy dinner. Quick and Easy Pizza Dough 1 T active dry yeast 1 T organic granulated sugar 1 C warm water 3 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C ground cashews 2 T olive oil freshly ground pepper freshly ground salt fennel pollen more olive oil for drizzling Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let bloom until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, ground cashews, and oil. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough - with a floured rolling pin - onto baking stone. Make it as flat as you can. It will puff up! Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and fennel pollen. Drizzle with more oli...

Food Revolution Day is coming up on Friday, May 16th. What is it? Click the question to read Jamie Oliver's more detailed answer, but here's the short answer! It’s a celebration of cooking good food from scratch and raising awareness of how it impacts our health and happiness. That's a day I can get behind! We'll be cooking through some of his recipes before the big day. Stay tuned. Do you want to join the fun?